Photo credit: Melissa Guffey
Describe your latest book.
Against White Feminism is the story of how white supremacy and “whiteness" as a source of privilege have tainted the feminist movement and turned into a grab-and-go branding exercise. The book details how colonialist and white supremacist patterns from the past continue to be replicated in the present. It is also my story, the story of a woman of color, a Muslim from the Global South, and the repeated exclusions, obstacles, and condescension I have experienced. Finally, it is a call to change, to use the transformative potential of the present to reconstruct feminism without centering whiteness.
What was your favorite book as a child?
My favorite book was
Naughty Amelia Jane by Enid Blyton, which is about a terribly naughty and rebellious doll who leads an insurrection of toys.
When did you know you were a writer?
When I became a columnist of my hometown paper,
Dawn.
What does your writing workspace look like?
I write on a futon... it is an upgrade since I wrote my last book sitting on the floor. My workspace is a dimly lit study where I can, a la
Emily Dickinson, "shut the door" on the world.
What do you care about more than most people around you?
Cooking recipes from the ancient world.
Tell us something you're embarrassed to admit.
Sometimes I have road rage.
Introduce one other author you think people should read, and suggest a good book with which to start.
I love Aleksandar Hemon’s work. I would begin with
The Book of My Lives.
Besides your personal library, do you have any beloved collections?
My mother’s jewelry.
What's the most interesting job you've ever had?
As a college student, I used to work taking calls on the Teen Suicide Prevention Hotline.
Have you ever made a literary pilgrimage?
Yes, several. To Walden Pond and
Thoreau’s farmhouse. To
Louisa May Alcott’s home.
What scares you the most as a writer?
That I will never be able to change anyone’s mind.
If someone were to write your biography, what would be the title and subtitle?
Naughty Rafia Zakaria: She Led an Insurrection
Offer a favorite sentence from another writer.
My guiding couplet from Urdu poetry going into pub week... because writing is an act of love: "This is a gamble of love, bet everything without fear / If you win then what joy, if you lose it will still have been worth it." —
Faiz Ahmad Faiz ( a very approximate translation)
Share a sentence of your own that you're particularly proud of.
“You do not have to be white to be a white feminist.”
Describe a recurring or particularly memorable dream.
Purchasing large amounts of pastries.
What's your biggest grammatical pet peeve?
Lack of Oxford commas.
Do you have any phobias?
I hate egg yolks.
Name a guilty pleasure you partake in regularly.
Long bubble baths.
What's the best advice you’ve ever received?
Remember to laugh.
What would be a dream come true?
Meeting
Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw,
Mikki Kendall, and
Tarana Burke.
My Top 5 Favorite Books About Women's Lives:
Empress: The Astonishing Reign of Nur Jahan by Ruby Lal
Indian Sex Life: Sexuality and the Colonial Origins of Modern Thought by Durba Mitra
The Good Girls by Sonia Faleiro
We Need New Stories: Challenging the Toxic Myths Behind Our Age of Discontent by Nesrine Malik
Radicalizing Her by Nimmi Gowrinathan
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Rafia Zakaria is author of
The Upstairs Wife: An Intimate History of Pakistan,
Veil, and many essays for
The Guardian, CNN, and the
New York Times Book Review. She is a regular columnist for
Dawn in Pakistan and the
Baffler in the United States.
Against White Feminism: Notes on Disruption is her latest book.